


Better, Smarter, Happier

by suzvoy



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Kid Fic, M/M, Reid is an awesome dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 17:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16202273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suzvoy/pseuds/suzvoy
Summary: Cassie doesn't really get it until she's almost eight years old.





	Better, Smarter, Happier

**Author's Note:**

> An old Lure fic I wrote that never got posted to my LJ (as far as I can tell). I was delighted when I stumbled across this comment fic when re-reading old posts on [lure-atwt](https://lure-atwt.livejournal.com/) as I'd completely forgotten I'd written it.
> 
> Kidfic, based on sexyscholar and I deciding that Reid would be a _fantastic_ dad. Originally posted [here](https://lure-atwt.livejournal.com/35297.html?thread=316897#t316897).

Cassie doesn't really get it until she's almost eight years old. Later she'll realise she'd been lucky, growing up in a small town where everyone knew everyone else, where everyone knew her Dads and respected them even if they didn't like them. Or maybe she'd just been too young before to really understand. There'd been names before, and those had upset her, but this...this was even worse. They'd said horrible, awful things. About her dads.

Daddy finds her crying in her bedroom, and two minutes later he's practically crying himself, pulling her into his arms and calling her 'baby'. This is one of those times when she decides she's not too old for it.

"I don't care what they say," she says stubbornly, between hiccupy sobs, "you and Pop are *not* disgusting. And nothing you do is disgusting." Cassie knows about sex, knows what it is, even if she doesn't really know what her Dads do. Those kids said...things...at school, but she doesn't *want* to know. Even if the very idea of her parents and sex is icky, she does know that they love each other and that's all that matters. "I just don't understand how people can be so..."

"Mean?" Pop asks as he strolls into the room, hands shoved into the pockets of his pants. He doesn't look very angry, but Cassie knows from the way he's standing, from the muscles she can see tensing in his forearms, that he's...

Furious.

Dad likes teaching her interesting words.

"I'll tell you how, short-stuff." Taking his hands out his pockets, Pop bends at the knees and lifts a hand up, bringing his thumb and index finger together until they're almost touching. "It's because approximately 90% of the population have brains this big. And you know I'm right about this because - well, I'm always right," Dad snorted next to her ear, "but I'm a neurosurgeon. And that means..?"

"You fix brains," Cassie replied.

"Exactly. I know brains, Cassie, and I know every kind of idiot there is. Only an idiot would say those things and an idiot has a miniscule brain. Therefore, why would we care about anything they have to say?"

She knew he was trying to make her feel better. "But they said...about you and Daddy..."

Reaching out, Pop touched her on the shoulder. "I understand you're upset and I'm not saying you shouldn't be. But we are better than them. We are smarter than them. And we're happier than them. Okay?"

Sniffing back the last of her tears, Cassie nodded, and when Daddy suggested she go get some ice cream she didn't need to be told twice. She threw her arms around him, then Pop, then went running to the kitchen.

*

Deciding on plain chocolate, she eventually found her way back to her bedroom, sucking at the ice cream on her spoon as she peered around the edge of the doorway.

Dad and Pop were sitting on the edge of the bed together.

Pop was obviously upset. "-I mean, haven't we given enough to this goddamn community?"

Dad was calmer. "You know you love this 'goddamn community', however much you try to deny it." He rubbed a hand over Pop's back. "It breaks my heart to see Cassie like this, but at least we know it's just a few isolated kids."

"Who are learning God knows what from their parents," Pop argued. "It always starts at ho-"

"Reid," Dad said firmly, and Pop stopped talking. Dad was still the only one who could do that. "We'll contact their parents, and we'll make sure it never happens again."

"How's that?" Pop snorted.

"Head of the Neurology Wing at Memorial? Lucinda Walsh's grandson?" He smiled. "They wouldn't dare go up against us. Besides, one of them might need brain surgery someday," he joked, nudging Pop's knee with his own.

Pop smiled a little, himself, before looking back at Dad. "You always do that."

"Do what?" Dad frowned.

"'Lucinda Walsh's grandson'," he explained. "You know, you really don't need to invoke her name to get things done around here. Not anymore. Hearing the name Luke Snyder is enough to strike fear into the hearts of anyone who's unfortunate enough to be lurking nearby."

Dad looked surprised, then started smiling. "Why, Dr Oliver, I didn't know that you cared." He paused. "Except for the fact I totally do."

"Luke," Pop shook his head, chuckling. "Shut up."

"That's your witty comeback?" Dad asked. "Really?"

"Must be having an off day," Pop apologised, "but I have other ways of shutting you up."

They started kissing, then, so Cassie wrinkled her nose and looked down at the last melted drops of ice cream left in her bowl.

If they were going to be kissing for a while...

Maybe strawberry this time. 

~FINIS


End file.
